Some of the rainwater collected in Poulaphouca reservoir may need to be released in coming days, with increased risk to parts of Kildare and Dublin along the Liffey.
The reservoir in Wicklow prevented large amounts of water from flowing through the Liffey into Kildare and Dublin amid recent heavy rainfall in recent days, ESB said in a statement. Levels at the State’s largest artificial reservoir, which serves the capital, have risen by almost 2 metres.
“However, levels are continuing to rise following the rainfall in the last 24 hours,” ESB said. “As reservoir storage is limited and given current forecasts, there may be a need to pass through some of these additional inflows over the coming days.
“This may increase the risk of flooding along the course of the river Liffey, in particular in the Clane and Newbridge areas. The situation will continue to be closely monitored.”
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The Liffey flows through many populous areas including Celbridge, Leixlip and Lucan, as well as Dublin city centre.
The southeast was once again hit badly by overnight flooding on Friday and Saturday morning as a result of heavy rainfall.
Parts of Wexford county remained underwater on Saturday following a deluge, with Bridgetown and Our Lady’s Island among the worst affected.
In Kilkenny, parts of Thomastown remained under water on Saturday. The flood-prone quay was blocked, while water levels in nearby Inistioge began to recede.
Green Party Senator Malcolm Noonan, a former minister of State who is from Kilkenny, said the flooding had caused “a lot of heartbreak and hardship”. “Great credit to the local authority, crews, emergency services and communities who are rallying to help neighbours in need,” he said.
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Noonan spoke in the Seanad this week about using “nature-based solutions”. “It may not work in every case but it’s work that could be done while communities are waiting on OPW schemes,” he said.
Aontú councillor Jim Codd, who lives in the Wexford village of Bridgetown, said it was “another terrible night in Bridgetown, many roads remain impassable right across the area”.
Codd said: “To all those that have worked through the night and into the morning trying to save homes and businesses, a very, very sincere thank you.
“You know you have a great team when the fire brigade crew are joined by lifeboat volunteers. A big thank you also to the coastguard and our own council crews that are working all night.”
In Carlow, the council advised those living close to the river Burrin to move all their belongings to higher ground as water levels are rising. In Waterford, some roads in the city and between Passage East and Dunmore East are impassable.
Yellow warnings for rainfall in eastern, northeastern and southeastern counties expired late on Friday night, with none in effect as the St Brigid’s Day bank holiday weekend began.
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However, Met Éireann warned that after a week of persistent rain, soils are saturated or waterlogged and rivers are “at or above bank-full conditions”.
Any further rainfall over the weekend is expected to result in river and surface-water flooding in the east of the country, a meteorologist’s note on Friday said.
The forecaster advised people to keep updated on their local weather conditions and communications from their council.
Tánaiste Simon Harris, speaking in Zagreb at a meeting of the European People’s Party, the European bloc to which Fine Gael belongs, said Ministers would hold a special Cabinet committee on floods and storms in the next week.
“I hope that’s an opportunity to look at things like flood forecasting, and also look at how we can speed up the delivery of flood rescues,” he said.
He defended Met Éireann amid criticism of its decisions before Storm Chandra, but added that a rethink could be helpful. “I think the more information we can put into the public domain in relation to flood forecasting and information about river levels alongside rain warnings, I think would be very, very helpful,” he said.
“Because if we’ve learned anything over the last few days, a relatively small amount of rain can actually cause very significant damage if the river is high.”
He added that the Government was “responding in real time” to flood damage, and that it would “be there to help with the clean-up costs and the repairs costs in relation to homes and businesses”.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group met on Friday to continue its oversight of the flood response, with further plans to meet through the weekend.
Weather was due to become drier from Saturday through to Sunday and the first half of Monday. Met Éireann said that rain will be lighter and patchier where it appears, with some bright or sunny spells, especially on Sunday.
Monday, a bank holiday, may see further rain, however.
